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Happy Mother’s Day!

Though this post focuses on one special mother it is dedicated to all moms, especially my other grandmother, Daisy, and my own mother.

In honor of Mother’s Day I dug up a beautiful piece my Tio Lucho wrote a few years ago about my maternal grandmother. I hope he doesn’t mind me sharing it with the world and that my attempt to translate it into English does it some justice. If I remember correctly, the family portraits I chose to showcase just how cute my Nana was were taken at the urging of my Tia Ilka, the youngest and most photo-obsessed of my mom’s siblings. Given that we lost Ilka in 1997 and Nana in 2000, we are truly blessed to have these professional photos of my grandmother with all of her children as adults.

Ninety years ago today our beloved, selfless mother María Anastacia Colomb de Valleé, also known as Teresa by family and friends and Nana by her grandchildren, was born. This morning I left a flower at her final resting place on behalf of myself and her other five children.

I feel the desire to honor the memory of this great woman by sharing some reflections with my wife, my children, my sisters, and their husbands and their children. She has left us a great legacy in the form of that certain something that characterizes us, the Valleé-Colombs – a quality that we have the responsibility to continue to pass down in our family.

All of her life, and especially ever since the passing of our father, Teresa dedicated her life to her children. We had the invaluable blessing of always coming home to a mother that showered us with love, protection, and spiritual guidance. Though she did not have much schooling her common sense, ever-ready wisdom, and natural, heartfelt efforts to fight for a good education for her children undoubtedly shaped the people we are today. It is important to recognize her ability to work as a small business owner on top of the considerable task of raising six children. She ran her sewing business from home, working at all hours in order to generate the resources to pay for the living expenses her important, though meager, widow’s pension did not cover.

On the way to Newark Airport yesterday I spoke with Marta about how our father, a person of whom we have so many loving and tender memories, was also a very special person. We reminisced about the quality time he spent with us, taking us to school and picking us up at the end of the day, helping out with household duties by giving us our baths, and preparing our tea and snack before bedtime. Listening to the stories of those who knew him leaves no doubt that he was a wonderful man.

Having parents like ours has greatly impacted our lives. Often we do not realize what a wonderful family bond we have until we become aware of the family situations of those around us. Together as a family, we must identify those things that our parents did well and charge ourselves with the responsibility to pass these lessons on to the generations to come.

At every family gathering or reunion we observe a great deal of interest, both on the part of the youth and the older generations, in obtaining information about our grandparents and their predecessors. Unfortunately, there is a frustrating dearth of information concerning the previous generations. God has favored me with me many blessings, but I know that my sisters also have many memories to share. I propose that we compile all of these memories into a “Life Story” document starting with Julio and Tere to leave as a legacy for our children and future generations.

In addition to recording information about their lives, a key objective would be to isolate those experiences that have fostered the harmony, unity, and desire to spend quality time together that characterizes our family. I would be happy to collect submissions for inclusion in the “Vallee-Colomb Life Story” which can then be presented in its first draft at the next family reunion.

Thank you, Tio Lucho, for writing such a beautiful tribute to your mother, your father, and what makes our family special. Clearly, I share this desire to learn more about our family history and will continue to work to uncover the secrets of our ancestral past.

*Also, special thanks to the other Maria Anastacia and my dear friend Sheila for proofreading the English translation.*

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4 thoughts on “Happy Mother’s Day!”

Anulkah,job well done! The translation is perfect. As I was reading the translation I had the same feeling like I did with the Spanish version, which is as if I could her Lucho’s voice and the message in his heart and what he was feeling at the time that he wrote it.